At this point, it's a foregone conclusion that Marvel's former president and chairman Stan Lee will have a cameo in every single movie based on a Marvel Comics character whether or not he had any direct association with that character during his lengthy career. But how many of the upcoming movies can claim that he's already been written into the script?

When we spoke to Zombieland creators Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese a few months back, they were hesitant about saying much about the Venom script they'd been working on. (You can read what they could say here.) As we were going through our lengthy interview with them, we found a little missed tidbit that might thrill Marvel fans, as they admitted to us that Lee will appear in the Venom movie and that they've even already written his part!

"Oh, yeah. Stan Lee is in it," Reese told us. "I feel like that's the one thing we can say. He does appear in our script, and we're very specific about where he is and why. May he live forever. Let's hope he's in many movies to come."

Check out ShockTillYouDrop.com next week for our very lengthy interview with Wernick and Reese talking specifically about Zombieland, which comes out on October 9.

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, The LA Times is reporting that Chronicle director Josh Trank is in talks to direct Venom, a feature film based on the "Spider-Man" character.

First appearing in the comic book series as an alien costume worn by Spider-Man in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #252 in 1984, it was several years before the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock, forming the antihero known as Venom. Since then, the character has appeared in a variety of different forms and bonded with several different hosts. In the "Ultimate" Marvel Universe, the suit has a more terrestrial origin, created by Parker and Brock's scientist parents in an attempt to cure cancer.

Venom has appeared on the big screen before in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, played by Topher Grace. It is unlikely that the proposed film will bear any connection to that take on the character, though it remains to be seen if the project will connect in any form to July 3rd's The Amazing Spider-Man.

Sony has allegedly toyed with the idea of a Venom spinoff in the past, but this new version is rumored to be unconnected to previous drafts. Check back for studio confirmation and official details as soon as they become available.

Earlier today, Matt Patches over at Hollywood.com had a chance to talk with The Amazing Spider-Man producers Avi Arad and Matthew Tolmach, and during the inteview, he took the opportunity to ask them about Sony's planned Venom movie, which Chronicle director Josh Trank is rumored to be directing.

With the success of The Avengers, it makes perfect sense for Sony to want the part of the Marvel Universe they acquired during the '90s to work together as a whole, so one can expect that they'll take a similar real-life science approach with Venom's origin story as they do with Spider-Man and The Lizard in the upcoming reboot.

Arad explained the bigger picture plans for the Venom movie:

"It's an Eddie Brock story. We want to be as close to the comics as possible. Especially in Eddie Brock's story. But again, pseudo-science is becoming science. All these tidbits about webs, artificial webs, is a huge industry now. Spiderwebs have unique qualities that will be huge for communications, fibers, and so forth. So we have taken the approach that we want to make the huge amazing movie about Eddie."

"He was a journalist. He had the wrong story, he got in trouble for it, he got fired," Tolmach continued, going on to explain how they're approaching characters like Venom. "The whole essence to us for the Marvel characters is stay close to the bible, stay close to the emotional story, and the rest is fun. Look for the worlds to make sense with one another."

"Hopefully,all these worlds will live together in peace someday," he added, which gives us the biggest possible hint of what they might have planned.

While there's nothing in The Amazing Spider-Man that even hints at Eddie Brock or his alien symbiote alter ego, that doesn't means that the already-planned 2014 sequel won't try to set something up or that they're eventually building to having Spider-Man fight Venom in a third installment.

Oh, wait. They already tried that.

Regardless, you can look for a lot more on Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man, including our own interviews with director Marc Webb and the cast in the weeks leading up to its North American release on July 3.

In a surprising turn of events, The Hollywood Reporter today brings word that Sony Pictures is once again looking at bringing Venom, the Marvel Comics antihero, to the big screen. According to the trade, however, this doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a Venom movie connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in any way. The trade notes that the new film is unconnected to next year’s Spider-Man, which is set to star Tom Holland as your friendly neighborhood webslinger.

First appearing in the comic book series as an alien costume worn by Spider-Man in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #252 in 1984, it was several years before the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock, forming the antihero known as Venom. Since then, the character has appeared in a variety of different forms and bonded with several different hosts. In the “Ultimate” Marvel Universe, the suit has a more terrestrial origin, created by Parker and Brock’s scientist parents in an attempt to cure cancer. More recently, the Venom symbiote has been moving between hosts, including Mac Gargan (aka The Scorpion) and Peter Parker’s old high school rival, Flash Thompson.

Venom previously appeared on the big screen, played by Topher Grace in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. Since the release of that film in 2007, rumors have persisted about a solo Venom movie, but variation iterations of the project have failed to materialize. New plans for a Venom movie have producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach developing the property with Dante Harper set to provide the screenplay. Harper previously worked on the script for Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow as well as the upcoming Sleepless Night remake.

On the heels of Warner Bros. Pictures‘ announcement this morning that James Wan’s Aquaman is swimming from October 5 to December 21, 2018 comes word from Sony Pictures that another comic book adaptation is taking Aquaman‘s October slot. The studio has just dated a Venom movie for October 5, 2018!

It was reported last year that a Venom movie was being planned, but that it would likely not tie to Sony’s Spider-Man franchise (which, with the Civil War debut of Tom Holland as the webslinger, is now set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). Whether or not those plans have changed remains to be seen. Check back for updates as they become available.

Holland’s Spidey can next be seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming, in theaters July 7. Sony Pictures Animation, meanwhile, is delivering a non-MCU animated Spider-Man movie on December 21, 2018. That’s just two months after the new Venom movie release date.

In an interview with Fandango, the director was asked if the Venom solo film is tied in any way to Spider-Man: Homecoming, to which he replied, "it's not. It's not connected to the Marvel world, so that's really intriguing... what that will be."

Watts went on to note that he doesn't know anything about the project. "It's not connected, so there's not that overlap," he reiterated. "I'm only focused on my movie right now."

Sony Pictures is also at work on a Spider-Man spinoff movie featuring Black Cat and Silver Sable, which, much like Venom, won't be tied to Homecoming. Thor: Ragnarok writer Chris Yost is penning a new draft for the project and Sony is expected to begin its search for a director soon.

Venom opens in theaters on October 5, 2018. The film will reportedly begin filming this fall and has been labeled an "action/horror/sci-fi" movie.

It's just a matter of waiting, which Hollywood either can't do or does until the point that something never happens... With Infinity War they have the perfect set-up to get the symbiote to Earth then they take it from there. Let the next Spidey movie do the black suit/Venom story and *THEN* branch off into a Venom solo film. Of course, the other thing that may be going on is that Sony is planning to do things sort of the way DC/WB was when Justice League Mortal was still a thing -- JLM was one reality, the Nolan-verse another and Green Lantern another... They would have one Spider-Man interacting with the other heroes and another one doing his own thing in stories revolving around the supporting cast. Either way, it just seems crazy. Why wouldn't Sony want to work out something with Marvel that *could* allow for some sort of interaction with the MCU. It wouldn't have to be anything big, these stories could be small enough that they take place in their own little space much like the Netflix stuff has done so far, you don't see the other characters but there is enough reference to let the viewers know that they are out there... Not everything would have to have a "Robert Downey, Jr." level of interaction...

Sony Pictures has officially signed Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, Inception) to star as Eddie Brock in their upcoming Venom movie, with Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) to direct. Hardy previously played the DC Comics supervillain Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, and will be seen this summer in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk.

The studio also released a photo of the actor wearing a Venom T-shirt, and mentioned that he is a “huge fan of Venom”:

Venom will hail from Sony’s Marvel Universe of characters and will NOT be a spinoff of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe wherein Sony allows Spider-Man to be played by Tom Holland. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing along with Amy Pascal, with Palak Patel and Eric Fineman overseeing for Columbia Pictures.

Writers Scott Rosenberg (Pain & Gain, Jumanji) & Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) will pen the script for the Venom film, which is set for an October 5, 2018 release date. Production will begin this fall.

First appearing in the comic book series as an alien costume worn by Spider-Man in Marvel‘s “The Amazing Spider-Man” #252 in 1984, it was several years before the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock, forming the antihero known as Venom. Since then, the character has appeared in a variety of different forms and bonded with several different hosts. In the “Ultimate” Marvel Universe, the suit has a more terrestrial origin, created by Parker and Brock’s scientist parents in an attempt to cure cancer. More recently, the Venom symbiote has been moving between hosts, including Mac Gargan (aka The Scorpion) and Peter Parker’s old high school rival, Flash Thompson.

Venom previously appeared on the big screen, played by Topher Grace in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. Since the release of that film in 2007, rumors have persisted about a solo Venom movie, but various iterations of the project have failed to materialize. Alex Kurtzman was set to direct a spin-off back in 2013, but he is no longer attached to the project.

Tom Holland’s Spidey can next be seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming, in theaters July 7. Sony Pictures Animation, meanwhile, is delivering a non-MCU animated Spider-Man movie on December 14, 2018, just two months after the new Venom movie release date.

Let's see. No Spider-Man, no Iron Man, no Captain America, no Hulk, no SHIELD, no X-Men, no Fantastic Four, no Ant-Man, no Doctor Strange, no Guardians of the Galaxy, no Avengers, no Sub-Mariner, no Invaders, no Daredevil, no Punisher, no Elektra, no Iron Fist, no Luke Cage, no Jessica Jones, no Cloak and Dagger, no Runaways, no She-Hulk, no Asgard, no Silver Surfer, no Captain Marvel, no Black Panther, no New Mutants, no Inhumans, no Defenders and no Wolverine.

They've got Venom, the Sinister Six, Black Cat and Sable, though. So I guess that makes it a "Marvel Universe of Characters."

Wow.

Y'know what? Sony should just get out of the movie business. They kinda suck at it. The last Ghostbusters pretty much proved the point.

Tom Hardy and Ruben Fleischer are impressive names, but I simply have no interest in seeing a Venom movie without Spider-Man. That makes about as much sense as a Catwoman movie without Batman (Ask Warner Brothers about that one, Sony).